Last night Dallas Keuchel shut down the high-powered Yankees offense 4-0 to give New York it’s 4th loss in 5 games. The Yanks seem to be one of the streakiest teams in the majors and have now fallen back out of first place in the American League East, a game and a half behind the Rays. Aside from last night, their offense is still clicking despite their recent slide. They scored 24 runs in 3 games against the Phillies, but their pitching let up 24 as well. If they can just get some better outings from their starters, they could be the team to beat in the American League.

Tonight’s starter Nathan Eovaldi is not one of the starters the Yankees can rely on this year. They just need him to eat some innings, which he didn’t do two starts ago in Miami. He didn’t get out of the first inning allowing 8 runs on 9 hits. He settled down in his last start by going 6 innings and getting the win against the Tigers. Overall he has surrendered 100 hits in 76 innings and has a 4.95 ERA.

The Astros continue to be the surprise of the season. They don’t seem to be slowing down and now lead the American League West by 5 games over the Angels and Ranges. They’re doing it with a talented young core hitting and pitching. Keuchel is starting to become a household name now with his Cy Young type season to date. Their offense ranks 26th in batting average (.241), but 7th in runs scored (4.47). That doesn’t make sense, does it? Well if you dig a little deeper, they are 3rd in stolen bases (59) and #1 in home runs with 107. Their pitching is 9th in ERA at 3.57 and first in WHIP (1.18).

Rookie Vincent Velasquez has struggled in his first 3 career starts. He threw 93 pitches Sunday in Seattle, but couldn’t get out of the 4th inning. He has pitched more than 5 innings in his three starts. Overall he is 0-0 with a 4.15 ERA and 17 strikeouts in 13 innings. He needs to cut down on the walks. He has 10 already, which is why his pitch counts get high quick.

The left-handed heavy hitting Yankees lineup struggled last night against Keuchel, but I think they bust out tonight against the rookie despite Eovaldi being on the mound. A small play on the Over 9 might be worth a shot also.